The Soul of the Matter (41 page)

Chapter 82

D
an leaned back in a chair on his balcony, facing the deepening evening sky. Just slightly to his left, behind a row of buildings along the north edge of the Charles River, a cone of light shone upward at the site of the MIT fusion reactor remains. While looking at it was still difficult, it no longer enraged or embittered him.

He sipped a beer that tasted better than any he had in years, feeling the sweetness of being more in the world, and less into himself, than he ever had been before. Hope enlivened him. It was borne of an optimism that something good was yet to come—exactly what, he didn't know but he was going to seek it.

There was only one thing that could justify new hope, make it more than a fleeting feeling based on illusion. Despite the many reservations and unanswered questions he still had, he believed that life had true meaning and that he would someday come to know it.

Stephen's work certainly had revealed profound things that Dan could not ignore. The algorithmic processing DNA used to create body plans was based on fractals. This required the expression of imaginary numbers. While thinking beings could use imaginary numbers to describe physical behavior, these numbers could not exist physically themselves. That meant they were coded in DNA as a concept, not as a physical arrangement or a behavior of physical properties. And that meant they came to be as an expression of a thought. And that required a thinker!

Yet if something like God existed, why did He leave people—leave Dan—so alone when they faced terrible things? Though there had
been times where Dan had thought that he had felt a presence, it hadn't lasted.

Still, Dan knew there was only one way that life and love had meaning, that people were more than biological robots and had inherent worth. That was if people were categorically more than physical matter, and had a real spiritual existence.

Stepping out on the balcony, he wondered if the proof he sought was actually all around him. The sights that pleased him, the cool breeze that refreshed him, the sounds that were like music, the thoughts that lifted him—might all these be evidence of his soul in action? Could the brain alone produce the perceptions he was experiencing? Was every moment, of every life, indication of a spiritual existence?

Would people live differently if they believed that?

He wished he could share what he had discovered in Stephen's work with the world. But unless he could find out more about it, know more about its origins and purpose—divine or something else—he couldn't do that. There were too many aspects of it, extremely dangerous aspects, that could lead to the end of humanity well before other aspects could be used to elevate humanity beyond the failings of the present.

The world was on a dangerous precipice between the past and future. Ancient battles, at times seemingly dormant, but never ended, were ratcheting up.

Right before the fateful explosion, Stephen had told him that he thought God planned for scientific discoveries to emerge when they did to keep humanity on track, that God wrote history with broad, faint strokes that could only be seen from a great vantage point.

What if Dan really was the caretaker of what he possessed? What if he had a role to play in the next stage in human evolution? How would he know what to do?

All he knew for certain was that he'd have to persevere and keep trying to find out. He'd have faith that there were answers that mattered. In his heart, he knew life was worth it; that it wasn't only an illusion that would be dispelled by the scattering of atoms.

The answers were out there for those who sought them.

Author's Note

T
his novel features a lot of science talk. Some of the science is considered well-established, some I consider probable, a portion is pure speculation on my part, and the rest is fanciful for the purposes of interesting fiction. Though I trust readers recognize which is which, for the sake of clarity I am providing this short section to delineate the well established from the less proven science. Note that in some cases in this book, I challenge established science, and I hope that too is clear.

In the realm of generally accepted science, fall the:

• Importance of the relative strength of the four fundamental forces of nature;

• Requirements for fusion reactions to take place and for commercially viable fusion energy;

• Basics of DNA and biology, including epigenetics;

• Core tenets of neo-Darwinian evolution;

• Present lack of conclusive evidence for how the first life originated;

• Present lack of knowledge about body plans;

• Possibility of multiverses. Although several different kinds of multi­verses have been proposed by physicists, for this book I have focused only on the many-worlds version;

• Sorry to say, almost every surveillance or cyber technology Dan uses or refers to.

In the area of what I consider probable:

• The ratio of individual instructions needed to direct human development, on a one-for-one instruction basis, is far greater than the amount of DNA.

• Complex algorithmic processing is involved in human development

• All perceiving species have some degree of consciousness (though not equivalent).

• Consciousness requires an immaterial mind (more to follow in the next book).

• The immaterial mind falsifies a strictly materialistic origin of life, including strictly materialistic evolution (I do not assert that evolution didn't happen, but rather am challenging the exclusively materialistic mechanisms for it).

• The immaterial mind turns natural selection into intelligent selection.

• All that I described of what's required, at a minimum, process-wise, for the origin of the first life.

• We are the product of intelligent design.

I've speculated what might be true with no direct evidence to ­support it:

• That aging is designed into us.

• The implications of what would happen if DNA didn't use algorithmic processing (I recognize that the consequences might not be as I stated, but I wanted to illustrate consequences would be significant).

Lastly, for the purposes of sheer entertainment, I included fanciful ideas:

• That information on the physical laws of the universe, or any other type of conceptual information, is encoded in our DNA.

• That there is a means to alter electromagnetic repulsion to enable fusion energy.

I may well be proven wrong in some aspects of the above, but I expect the core assertions to stand up. This is, after all, a work of fiction written by a nonscientist. Of course if I am fundamentally wrong, then we're only matter and it won't matter! Time will tell.

Acknowledgments

O
f all the words I've written for this book—both those that made it in and the many that did not—the words in this acknowledgments have come the easiest. Writing them gave me a chance not only to enjoy the fact that the book really is completed but, more important, to reflect on all it took for that to happen and, especially, on all those who helped me on the way.

Of course, acknowledgments and thanks begin with my parents, Bruce Buff and Ann Buff. These two have consistently loved and supported me throughout my life, always thinking the best of me and what I could accomplish—although novel writing is definitely outside the realm of anything they thought I would attempt.

The forbearance of my wife, Claire, and children, Maggie, Julia, Susanna, Timothy, and Patrick, as they accepted the many weekends and “free time” I spent on this book was gratifying. Even more so was their gradual change of view from “couldn't you being doing ­better things with your time?” to mild acceptance, to outright pleasure with the accomplishment. In fact, I appreciate the former attitude (­accepting, however resignedly, what seemed like a fool's errand) even more than the latter, which I am nonetheless thrilled to have.

My agent, Roger Freet, guided me, providing strong counsel and support, for which I am very thankful. His expertise, enthusiasm and efforts were indispensable. My Howard Books editor, Beth Adams, skillfully shepherded the initial manuscript to become a far better novel than I could ever have accomplished on my own, one that I am honored to have the opportunity to have published. Her hard work and patience never flagged. Both Roger and Beth were fun to work with.

Years before I had an agent or publisher, Pat LoBrutto believed in my story and me, and provided valuable editorial assistance and encouragement along the way. Likewise, former publishing executive Marjorie Braman provided another set of eyes, and perspective, to shape and sharpen my story. Tragically, she passed away before she could see the finished product, although she still left her mark on the novel.

Numerous people read my manuscript as it progressed and provided important contributions, in particular Nick Gentile and Mariah Macias (via Penn's Kelly Writers House). Casey Connor was generous with his time, skillfully helping me with early publicity copy ­assistance.

Other early readers and commenters included my daughter Julia, David Polinchock, JoAnn Marvin, Richard Scurry, Joe Battagalia, Eugene Kelly, Paul Kocourek, Mike Jones, Kristen Ulfsparre, David Ryan, Tom Gallagher, Mike Ghelardi, Wilma Jordan, Jeannie Carr, and John Ronan. Their willingness to read the early manuscript of a novice novelist helped me editorially, but even more important provided terrific reassurance of the value of this project.

I am grateful to Dr. Richard Temkin, associate director of MIT's Plasma Research and Fusion Center; Dr. Robert Kaita, deputy head of research operations at Princeton's Plasma Physics Laboratory; and Dr. Leland Ellison, computational physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Sharing their valuable fusion and physics ­expertise with me, as well as giving me tours of MIT's and Princeton's fusion research centers, was important to the book in obvious ways.

I appreciate the feedback I received on my arguments for the immaterial mind from Dr. Kaita (again!); physicist and philosopher Dr. Stephen Barr of the University of Delaware; philosopher Dr. J.P. ­Moreland of Biola Univesity; Fran Maier, special advisor to ­Archbishop Chaput; and author George Sim Johnston.

Dr. Peter Kreeft of Boston College kindly provided feedback on some of the religious related arguments.

I consulted Ann Gauger and Jonathan Wells from the Discovery ­Institute, and biology professor Thomas Reilly, PhD (my brother-in-law), regarding the accuracy of what I present as biological ­science, and am grateful for their numerous corrections. Though I am ­sympathetic to the concept of intelligent design, and find many of the­ ­arguments for it compelling, this book is not an ID apology. That topic, as well as ­others in this book, would require far more space to discuss their merits, by people better equipped to do it. Rather, my intent was to bring up a few ideas that were new to me and see what I could do with them. In the end, this book is solely the product of the story I wanted to tell and was not conceived by any particular interests other than my own, though I certainly do rely on the work and knowledge of others. That said, I do appreciate the support and encouragement I received from Steve Meyer, Casey Luskin, and John West, also of the Discovery ­Institute.

To anyone I neglected to mention, it is not for lack of appreciation.

Please note that I do not mean to imply that any of the people who reviewed all or part of my arguments in the manuscript agreed with every aspect of them, or in some cases, even most of them. Some people were fine with some aspects of the ideas in the book but not with others. Some were ID supporters and others objected strenuously to any doubts about Darwinian evolution. However, all were generously willing to share their knowledge and opinions with me.

In a similar vein, any errors of science or reason in this book are solely mine.

Finally, and not in the least, least, I would like to thank everyone at Howard Books and Simon & Schuster who contributed to the publication of this book, including the production, art, marketing and publicity, and sales teams. Their creativity and professionalism were outstanding.